Volunteer of the Month

Wendy Huber

For the last two years, Wendy Huber has graciously served as secretary of the Spokane Mountaineers. In acknowledgement of her dedication, Wendy was nominated as Volunteer of the Month. Wendy has also served as writer and editor for the Kinnikinnick. Foremost, Wendy is an avid hiker. Wendy grew up hiking in Connecticut as a child, and then in Sturbridge, Massachusetts as a young adult. She and her husband, Chuck, joined the Mountaineers when they moved here from Massachusetts in 2004. She also does some biking and cross country skiing.

She and Chuck demonstrate their appreciation of the camaraderie that the Mountaineers provide by being active trip leaders, organizing social events and hiking trips. They have put together a couple of trips for fall leaf-viewing in the northeast and ski outings to Nelson and Red Mountain in B.C., with community potlucks at adjoining condos. Wendy's favorite destination is the Canadian Rockies. She would lik to see the Mountaineers develop more hike and trip leaders. Our thanks to Wendy for donating so many volunteer hours.

Volunteer with Us!

A club like the Spokane Mountaineers, with so many opportunities for adventure, doesn’t just happen. It takes the energy, excitement and effort of a large group of people who are willing to invest some time. Volunteering with the Mountaineers is a great way to meet new people and learn more about the history and activities of the club. Choose and area you enjoy and then contact us to get involved!

Centennial Trail

We are Adopt-a-Mile partners with the Friends of the Centennial Trail, supporting its stewardship and maintenance. Twice yearly we sponsor cleanup events for Mile 17 as well as supporting fundraising events. We participate in the annual Bike Swap fundraiser which last year raised $20,000 for trail maintenance and on-going work to close trail gaps.

Volunteers are always needed to support our cleanup days (You design the level of effort from leaf blowers to good old fashioned raking!) and fundraisers.

Chalet

Our Chalet is a gem in the crown of the Spokane Mountaineers, located on Mount Spokane on 40 acres of wooded property. We plan events all year long, from meteor shower watching in the summer, to dropping in for hot chocolate after cross-country skiing in the winter.

Volunteers are needed to help us stock wood in the fall and twice-yearly cleanups. Not to worry, food is (almost!) always provided. There is also the occasional maintenance project, but we’ll let you know in plenty of time.

Climbing

The identity of this club was founded on the premier reputation of our Mountain School, with many members going on to achieve international reputations. Our climbing schools also cover rock, lead rock, youth rock and ice climbing. Once through school, we hone your skills through scheduled events year-round for all types of climbing.

Volunteers are needed to lead climbs - training is provided. We need you to come back and support our schools after you graduate and become increasingly more experienced so you may mentor those who are coming up.

Conservation

The Club's conservation efforts are the cornerstone of our volunteer work. A significant portion of the Club's budget goes toward the cause of ensuring that we protect, maintain and expand public wild places.

From digging ditches to lobbying legislators and serving on public committees, the Spokane Mountaineers offer limitless ways for you to get involved in making a difference in the future of the places where we love to play. Have a place that's dear to your heart you wish to conserve? Get involved and let the Spokane Mountaineers help your cause.

Editorial

We publish the Kinnikinnick, our quarterly news and events publication; full of information to keep you aware of all the fun things you can do with the Spokane Mountaineers. It includes trip reports, committee news, applications for upcoming schools, educational seminars and notes from the past.

Volunteer reporters are always appreciated when they send us trip reports and photographs of their Spokane Mountaineering adventures! On the practical side we also need proofreaders near each publication time.

E-Communication

We are the architects of the Spokane Mountaineer’s website and social media presence. We keep the website running efficiently and effectively, providing easy access to activities, schools and events.

Volunteers are needed to "adopt” areas of the website for monitoring and updating content on a periodic basis. We need on-going trip reports, committee reports, and photographs of your adventures for our online blog "The Kinni Online.” We are also always looking for those with IT and design expertise to keep our Web presence in the state of the art.

Hiking

We organize day hikes and backpacking trips, and snowshoeing in the winter. These events provide enjoyment of the outdoors with the promise of a "prize at the end,” - an alpine lake, a cascading waterfall, or the "rock falls” of the Channeled Scablands. Our Backpack School will train you to be competent and capable in the wilderness.

Volunteers are needed to lead day hikes, backpacking trips, and snowshoes. Training is provided. Cookies at the trail’s end are appreciated! We also need plenty of volunteers during our Backpack School to bring their experience, latest gear and trail cooking expertise to share.

History

We are the archivist of the Spokane Mountaineers. We have a treasure of photographs, news articles, scrapbooks and other historical content that span almost 100 years that we are digitizing for placement on our website. In addition to organizing the past, we are documenting the present to keep our history alive.

Volunteers are needed to document their adventures through photographs, souvenirs and articles and provide them to our Historian. Interested in our digitizing process? Let us know!

Leadership

We develop our leaders by expanding from the foundation of climbing and backpacking schools to include basic leadership training and expanding to wilderness first aid and CPR. The more leaders we recruit, the more events we have available – you get the drift!

Volunteer to be a leader today!

Membership

We are the behind-the-scenes support crew that gathers, compiles, enters, and troubleshoots the membership database. We support both paper and on-line membership, and attend to changes in passwords and membership status.

Volunteers are needed for entering paper applications into the database, be the go-to person for password changes, and generate reports such as our roster and renewal reminders.

Mountain Biking

Roam up and down through the wilderness at slow, medium or high speed with nothing but your two knobby tires between you and the earth below! We organize day and weekend rides throughout the spring, summer and fall, with a blow-out weekend at Priest Lake at season's end.

Volunteer to be a leader today!

Paddling

We explore the quiet waterways, watching for wildlife and enjoying the peacefulness that comes from being at one on the water with your canoe or kayak. We organize day and weekend paddles through the summer and fall.

Skiing

We can’t wait for the snow each winter! We cross-country ski, back country ski and downhill ski. Night ski, day ski, weekend ski too. We provide schools in Avalanche Awareness, Backcountry Ski School and Winter Back Country Travel.

Volunteer to be a leader today!

Social

You might ask, "Isn't everything we do social?" Yes! This committee organizes the larger events that everyone comes to regardless of their favorite pastime. We put on the "Not Just for New Members" Picnic, we support Chalet activities with dogs and burgers, and the crowning achievement of the year is our annual banquet, where a good time is had by all.

Volunteers are needed to occasionally flip a burger or create a centerpiece or any other part of event planning and execution.